Amsterdam, NL

Life can be very serendipitous. On Wednesday morning, Hayley and I boarded the first high speed train leaving Paris. Our destination? Amsterdam.

Our destination

Gare du Nord (Paris) The high speed train-Thellys was quite luxurious, even in 2nd class! Centraal Station in Amsterdam

Bitterballen and Heinken, traditional food from the Netherlands. To describe it I would have to say imagine the interior of a chicken pot pie, fried.

Demonstration on etching in the Rembrandt house

Rembrandt

Red light district

Amsterdam was like no where else I’ve ever been. It may be obvious, but I feel the need to reiterate that there is no place like it in the world. It has so much history, with people such as Anne Frank, Rembrandt, Van Gogh being able to call Amsterdam home. Yet, there is a very different side to Amsterdam dealing with tourists, canabis, prostitutes and coffee shops. The closest thing I can compare it to is New Orleans.

My favorite thing about Amsterdam are the canals with the bridges that link the city together. Also, the amount of bikers in this city, I could visualize my grandfather years ago doing the same! Amsterdam was undoubtedly an interesting and broadening cultural experience.